Over the years, electronic device manufacturing has developed into a highly sophisticated and automated technology. In some instances, however, operators still perform manual assembly operations. One such operation is a heat-seal operation for packaging a dual-in-line package (DIP) integrated circuit formed on a ceramic substrate. During the heat-seal operation, a plastic cap is placed and sealed against the active (or circuit) side of a rectangular ceramic circuit substrate. Outward extending leads are cut from a frame and are bent down against the edges of the plastic cap to form the typical shape of the DIP. Prior to the heat-seal operation, the ceramic substrate is bonded to the horizontally extending leads of a lead frame. The lead frame is, in a preferred handling technique, one in a short strip of eight frames cut from a strip of indefinite length.
The heat-seal caps are rectangular caps of the same size as the DIPs. Tabs extend perpendicularly from the caps along the two longer edges thereof to fit between the leads and to become formed around the edges of the ceramic substrate. In the previously mentioned heat-seal operation, eight of the caps are placed manually into eight spaced nests which correspond in their spacing precisely to the spacing of the lead frames in the strip of lead frames. A respective lead frame is then placed over the caps. A subsequent operation seals the caps to the substrates, cuts the leads from the frames and forms the leads after cutting into the typical DIP configuration.
Placing eight of the caps into the respective nests has been found to be time consuming and cumbersome. However, because of a desirably precise spacing of the caps as determined by the spacing of the lead frames in the strip, the loading operation of the caps has, in the past, remained a manual one.